Mesa Elementary: 64% of kids clear the bar — ahead of the state's 43%. But math slips between grade 3 and grade 5.
Mesa posts 64% meeting the standard, against 43% across the state. The number below is the one to ask about on a visit.
| Scope | % Exceeded | % Met+ | Growth | Absence | Suspension | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| This school | 58 | 38% | 64% | -2.5 | 10.3% | 0.5% |
| CA average · Elementary School | 45 | 21% | 43% | -2.9 | 17.9% | 1.6% |
Mesa Elementary scores 58 of 100 on SchoolScope's Scope Score — the 79th percentile of 5,744 California elementary schools (CDE CAASPP 2025).
Measures test performance, attendance, and climate — not arts, community, or your kid. How we score →
🤝 Culture First — Ask whether the low absenteeism and suspension numbers come from what the school does or from the community it serves — both can produce the same numbers, and only a visit tells you which.
Most rating sites would stop at “64% proficient” and call it done. Mesa deserves a closer read. The school sits in West Covina, where more than half of students qualify for free or reduced lunch — and reading the numbers without that context misreads the school.
Mesa's low-income kids hit 58.4% proficiency in ELA — a number the same group reaches at 38.2% statewide. If you're trying to read past zip-code-driven test scores, that's the signal worth weighing.
The seven-year arc
Has stayed near the 79th percentile since 2019.
Proficiency here is back to its pre-pandemic level — 64% meet the standard, about where the school stood in 2019.
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 70% | 65% | 69% | 67% | 61% |
| Grade 4 | 65% | 65% | 69% | 67% | 65% |
| Grade 5 | 71% | 51% | 62% | 72% | 70% |
| Grade | 2019 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 65% | 72% | 74% | 70% | 68% |
| Grade 4 | 55% | 43% | 65% | 57% | 64% |
| Grade 5 | 57% | 28% | 39% | 52% | 54% |
The story this school is actually telling
of students met or exceeded the standard, versus 42.7% statewide.
math proficiency runs 68% in grade 3 against 54% in grade 5, while reading holds (61% to 70%). The state average rises by +4.5pp over the same span.
The school, grade by grade
ELA · CAASPP 2024–25Different students, same year — each bar is one grade's proficiency mix.
The honest read: the share exceeding rises 8.1pp across grades; the floor rises 8.7pp. The state average rises 4.5pp over the same span. The ceiling holds — more kids exceed by grade 5 — but the floor slips: fewer clear the bar at all. A school visit and conversation with teachers will tell you more than this number.
Mesa's most underrated number
58.4% of low-income students met the ELA standard — versus 38.2% for the same group statewide. That's the strongest kind of signal a school can post: it holds across income lines.
The 6 things our score weighs
Ask the principal what changes between grade 3 and grade 5. Ask who teaches the older grades, and what the school does when a child starts falling behind.
- Ask what changes between grade 3 and grade 5 here, and who teaches the older kids.
- Ask whether extra support — tutoring, counseling, small groups — reaches kids across income lines, not just the students already ahead.
- Ask which schools families here actually choose next — the zoned path is only the default.
- Ask whether the tour can step into a working classroom — watch how the teacher handles a student who's stuck.
- Ask to tour while school's in session, and notice how hallways and transitions feel — culture shows up between classes, not just in them.
- Ask how the school communicates with families when a child starts to struggle.
How every group of students does here
At Mesa Elementary in West Covina, 58.4% of low-income students met or exceeded the ELA standard in 2025, compared to 48.3% district-wide and 38.2% statewide. Mesa Elementary outperforms its district average for low-income students by 10.1 percentage points in ELA. Other subgroups: Low-Income students (55.9% Math proficient); Hispanic students (56.2% ELA proficient). The largest proficiency gap is 9.1 percentage points for hispanic students. Data source: California Department of Education, CAASPP 2024-25. 202 students tested.
7 of 16 student groups here are too small to report — a privacy protection, not a gap.
Change in proficiency from the lowest tested grade — which groups gain ground the longer they stay. Groups with fewer than 10 tested students per grade are not shown.
Low-income student ELA proficiency rises by 4.3pp from grade 3 to grade 5 at this school. District average: +6.2pp.
Showing up, and staying in class
TK/K students miss school at roughly twice the rate of Grades 4–6 students (15.8% vs 8.6%). Chronic absence here concentrates in the earliest grades — worth asking how the school works with new families on attendance.
Where the path goes
The zoned path continues to Sierra Vista Middle, which scores 16 points lower than this school — worth weighing alongside everything above. Families here often look at charter or magnet options for middle school.
Feeder patterns derived from NCES attendance boundary data. Boundaries are approximate and may have changed — verify with your school district for current assignments.
The people teaching here
Pay is set by the district, not the school.
What gets spent here
$435 per student arrives as federal Title funding — a measure of concentrated need, not school quality.
The district's current expense of education per student, from CDE's annual SACS filing — the freshest district spending figure the state publishes.
District-level, from the district's own SACS general-ledger filing — school-by-school breakdowns aren't published by the state.
Source: NCES F-33 · Full district breakdown →
The neighborhood it serves
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates (2024) · ZIP-level
At 753 students, this school is well above the typical California elementary school (≈480).
Transitional kindergarten is offered here — confirmed by actual Census Day enrollment, not just the listed grade span.
On the state's science test (CAST), 43% met or exceeded the standard — science is tested in grades 5 and 8 but never enters the Scope Score.
Frequently asked questions
Is Mesa Elementary a good elementary school?
What are Mesa Elementary's CAASPP test scores?
How does Mesa Elementary rank in California?
Is Mesa Elementary getting better or worse?
What is the attendance and school culture like at Mesa Elementary?
How does Mesa Elementary compare to other schools in West Covina?
How does Mesa Elementary serve low-income and underrepresented students?
Your other options
Nearby Elementary Schools
3 within ~3 mi · avg 66
Private alternatives nearby
Private schools within ~10 miles. These schools do not participate in state testing and cannot be scored or ranked.
Every number on this page
Score factors, grade-level breakdowns, subgroup proficiency, and peer comparisons.
| ELA | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 111 | 34% | 27% | 23% | 15% | 61% | +18 |
| Grade 4 | 127 | 45% | 20% | 16% | 20% | 65% | +20 |
| Grade 5 | 130 | 42% | 28% | 15% | 15% | 70% | +22 |
| Math | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT | MET+ | +/CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 3 | 112 | 37% | 31% | 19% | 13% | 68% | +22 |
| Grade 4 | 129 | 33% | 30% | 23% | 13% | 64% | +22 |
| Grade 5 | 131 | 37% | 18% | 25% | 21% | 54% | +19 |
| Science (CAST) | Tested | EXC | MET | NEAR | NOT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 5/8/11 | 130 | 19% | 24% | 51% | 6% |
CAST is tested in grades 5, 8, and once in high school — not annually. Not part of the Scope Score.
| Subgroup · ELA | Tested | MET+ | vs district | vs CA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 202 | 58.4% | +10 | +20 |
| Hispanic/Latino | 192 | 56.2% | +6 | +17 |
| Asian | 117 | 76.1% | −0 | +2 |
| School | Dist | Scope | EXC | MET+ | Growth | Susp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mesa Elementary ← | — | 58 | 38.0% | 63.6% | −2.5 | 0.5% |
| Leonard G. Westhoff Elementary | 2.2 mi | 74 | 55.3% | 79.7% | −15.3 | 0.1% |
| Merced Elementary | 2 mi | 62 | 47.0% | 68.7% | −6.5 | 0.4% |
| Grovecenter Elementary | 2.4 mi | 62 | 27.2% | 53.4% | +20.1 | 0.4% |
| California average | — | 45 | 21.3% | 42.7% | −2.9 | 1.6% |
| Year | Scope | Pctile | Rank | Exc | Met+ | Absent | Susp | Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 59 | 79 | #1165 | 36.5% | 63.8% | 5.3% | 0.3% | -3.8pp |
| 2022 | 38 | 55 | #2574 | 29.9% | 54.1% | 18.9% | 0.0% | -28.5pp |
| 2023 | 53 | 77 | #1329 | 37.7% | 62.8% | 15.9% | 0.1% | -20.9pp |
| 2024 | 59 | 81 | #1071 | 39.9% | 64.0% | 12.9% | 0.1% | -6.3pp |
| 2025 | 58 | 79 | #1181 | 38.0% | 63.6% | 10.3% | 0.5% | -2.5pp |
| Group | 2019 | 2025 | Δ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Female | 5.6% | 8.6% | +3.0pp |
| Male | 4.7% | 11.3% | +6.6pp |
| Asian | 2.2% | 2.8% | +0.6pp |
| Black/African American | 15.0% | 20.0% | +5.0pp |
| White | 0.0% | 0.0% | +0.0pp |
| Hispanic/Latino | 5.5% | 15.1% | +9.6pp |
| Two or More Races | 16.7% | 0.0% | -16.7pp |
| Students with Disabilities | 11.8% | 14.9% | +3.1pp |
| English Learners | 7.3% | 13.0% | +5.7pp |
| Homeless | 21.1% | 14.3% | -6.8pp |
| Socioeconomically Disadvantaged | 7.7% | 14.5% | +6.8pp |
| All Students | 5.2% | 10.0% | +4.8pp |
SchoolScope scores and verdicts are our interpretation of public California Department of Education data — independent analysis, not an official rating. How we analyze · Request a correction